Greetings from J-List September 30, 2000

Hello again from Japan!

Japan can be a funny place. At the end of the day, Japan really loves Europe, and secretly wishes it could be a part of that continent. During the Meiji period, when Japan was looking to other nations as it modernized its institutions, they chose many elements from Europe to incorporate here. The French prefectural system, for example, was used as the model for Japan's system as they redrew their own internal boundaries in 1860's; they modeled their military on Prussia's, and their Diet on Britan's Parliament. In much the same was as British will jokingly pretend they're not part of Europe (since they're an island nation), the Japanese pretend they're not a part of Asia, and actually say "Asia and Japan" as if one were not part of the other. The fact that Japan and most of Europe are grouped in the same DVD region area speaks volumes

Speaking of DVDs and region codes, we've carried Japan's adult DVDs ever since they started appearing back in 1997, building a huge selection of great titles. While nearly all of Japan's adult DVD titles are zoned for "ALL" regions, meaning that you can view them on any DVD playback device, we've noticed that more and more titles we want to carry at J-List were zoned with region code 2 only. Rather than deciding not to carry these DVDs, we've created a new DVD page for region 2 discs, to offer you the best choice of products. Even if you don't have a code-free DVD player, you can view region 2 DVDs with virtually any DVD playback software on your computer, if you have a DVD ROM drive.

For this weekend's update, we've got some very nice new items, including:

• First, some excellent new magazines not regularly seen on J-List, including new issues of Ok and Lip Mate
  
• For photobook fans, we've got fresh stock of both of Yuka's recent idol photobooks (on the photobooks pages)
  
• We have a dozen or so nice new "gouka-bon" format photobooks, the high-end S&M books that deal with various deeper forms of fetishism (Photobooks -> S&M)
  
• For manga fans. we have a half dozen all-new releases, with some really nice new adult wide manga that will go fast (Manga -> New releases)
  
• Also for manga fans, stock of Sadistic Angel, one of the most popular manga at J-List in recent months (Manga -> Bestsellers
  
• We've added more stock of the Kakyusei art book from the excellent Pink Pineapple production based on one of the most successful bishojo games of all time
  
• For video fans, we've got some nice items, including a really excellent Aoi Minori offering (ahh...Minori-chan), Kanazawa Bunko's debut as a SOD AV performer (very cool!), and a great new "tekoki" video featuring former Panasonic race queen Kanno Yukari!
  
• We have a bunch of all-new dojinshi, including both adult dojinshi and yaoi dojinshi -- and yes, we have Gundam Wing books
  
• Finally, on our new "Region 2 DVD" page, we've got the excellent Uchu Kikaku 120 minute Special, a wonderful selection of top-notch performances by the cutest AV gals today, including some of our favorites
  
• On the also-new "DVD Discount & Overstock" page, we're closing out several of our DVD titles, as well as all our stock of VCDs.
  

Remember that J-List carries delicious Japanese gum, like Lotte's Black Black, the spicy, caffinated gum recommend by truck drivers in Japan. See the Japanese Snacks -> Gum for everything we've got available.

Greetings from J-List September 28, 2000

Greetings from Japan, the country with the highest per capita number of vending machines in the world! (I think it's something like, 3.6 vending machines per person...)

The drama of the Olympics continues, with the Japanese teams taking the glory of victory and the agony defeat when they can. Korea defeated Japan at Baseball on Wednesday in a hotly contested battle. Actually, the relationship between Korea and Japan is one of the most complex in Asia, after hundreds of years of battle and competition -- think England and Ireland, but with chopsticks. Like many countries, sports are a healthy way to get a rivalry out of your system, and Korea is always ready to play hard against Japan.

A few months ago, there was an episode of that TV show "Japanese! This is different!" (which allows foreigners from different countries to debate issues on life in Japan, in Japanese) devoted entirely to the relationship between the two countries, and it was quite interesting to watch. From the Japanese point of view, Koreans are overly angry about the many transgressions of World War II and before, and Japanese surveyed for the show wondered why Koreans couldn't get over what had happened a long time ago. (Japanese seldom say this about Hiroshima, however.) Japanese young people knew practically nothing about the two Koreas (one cogal interviewed thought that the Nanking Massacre had happened in Korea), yet 59.2% Koreans surveyed for the show thought that the possibility of Japan invading Korea again in the future was likely. Japanese were rightly concerned about the numerous kidnappings of Japanese by North Koreas over the past two decades. In the current Japanese history textbook for elementary school students, 1 1/2 pages was devoted to the atrocities committed by Japan in Korea; the same subject in the same book in South Korea covered 10 pages.

• There are new photobooks, including the new Cho Mach!! (very erotic cogal book), the lovely seminude and swimsuit photos of Hoshino Aki and Saitoh Nozomi, and a very interesting item for piercing fetishists
  
• For our special-interest photobook fans, we have new stock of several very nice let & panty stocking books (Photobooks -> leg fetish) and the Anal-ko Club (Photobooks -> Bondage & Fetish)
  
• We sell more adult manga than just about anything else here at J-List, and we've got some more cool items for you -- a half-dozen all-new items (Manga -> New releases)
  
• Yaoi fans, find two new wide manga yaoi works posted for you, too
  
• For our Japan AV video customers, a very special item -- Morishita Kurumi's "Fuckin' On" release, from Soft on Demand. A dynamite video that put you in the picture through use of rich 3D sound, Soft on Demand recommends listen to this video with headphones -- see this item on the SOD video pages
  
• Also for video fans, two excellent lesbian videos (Videos -> Lesbian)
  
• For DVD lovers, two very special items: Kawashima Azumi's extremely "Sexia collection" DVD, and our first offering of the hopelessly cute Shibuya Marina (see them both on DVD -> Main)
  
• For Pocky lovers, we've got more excellent chocolate covered pretzel sticks -- the lovely Tsubu Tsubu Strawberry Pocky (with real bits of strawberry) and Men's Pocky (Pocky made especially for men)
  
• We've got several of our popular wacky headbands back in stock, on the headbands & stickers page
  
• Finally, more stock of the surprisingly popular "It is forbidden to urinate here" wooden sign that keep going out of stock, on the Wacky Things from Japan page. So cool!
  

Okay, see you on the site!

Greetings from J-List September 26, 2000

Hello from your favorite island nation, Japan!

Olympic Fever continues to grip Japan, as everyone watches the various events taking place in Australia. Japan has won 5 gold medals as of Monday night, including the first ever marathon gold medal by a Japanese female runner. The most famous Japanese athlete at the Olympics, Tamura Ryoko (nicknamed "Yawara" after the famous manga series), was finally able to get a gold medal in Judo after eight years of enduring of silver and bronze. Being able to hold their own in international competitions like this is very important to Japanese, and they're pleased with their standing at Sydney.

Thanks to a reader in France for filling us in on the meaning of "gravure, which is used in Japanese to mean a busty, buxom idol (Yuka is a good example of a gravure idol"). The original meaning in French is "printing" or "engraving" -- a far cry from the meaning the Japanese have assigned the word. I've been in Japan so long, of course, I forget what words are English -- therefore you'll see us use "gravure" in our product descriptions sometimes. It can be funny that way -- for whatever reason, I never encountered the English word "cover" (as in, to cover a famous person's song, to sing a version of the song) before coming to Japan. I remember how careful I was, asking if I could use the word in English, as I wasn't sure if it was a Japanese word or not...

When we started our unique line of wacky Japanese T-shirts, with funny Japanese slogans on them, we had no idea how that they'd be a runaway success. It's been an interesting year, and we've had a lot of fun thinking of funny and esoteric things to put on our shirts. To celebrate the first anniversary of our T-shirts page, we're happy to be able to announce our Baby Doll T-shirts for girls! Made of 100% pre-shrunk cotton, the three Baby Doll shirts we have are colorful, cute, and are guaranteed to cause confusion and fun when you run into Japanese people. See the new shirts on the Wacky T-Shirts page!

In addition to our new T-shirts, we've got a huge number of other new items this evening, including:

• First, more of what we do best, Japanese magazines -- find the new issues of the best-selling Dela Beppin and Beppin School, as well as the new Pink Gold (Kurumi-chan fans, take note) and a new issue of Momo-Mizu, the popular "bathing suit only" magazine
  
• For photobooks, we recommend the lovely photobook "Cupid, by Sawada Yuri, a really nice and elegant collection of hairnude photos in a nice hardcover book
  
• Also for photobook fans, several back-in-stock items, including Wonderful (vol. 3 and 4), Secret Idol, and several books for leg fetish fans
  
• We have an excellent new Multi-Boy issue featuring many lovely performances, and a special DVD version of Cho! Very Good!! (on the CD ROM and MPEG page)
  
• For fans of Japan's unique AV videos, we have a host of new in-stock items for you. Look for new videos posted at the top of the Classics page (Miura Aika & Fubuki Akira compilation videos), on the New Releases page (Sakurai Fuka's Violent Lips" and more), and on the Theme Videos page (an interesting ass-centric new release)
  
• Also for video fans, a first at J-List -- female-to-female molesting videos, an interesting category of Japan's ever-creative SOD. See this video on their in-stock page, or on the Special Order Videos (SOD) page if the ones we have in stock sell out
  
• We have many excellent volumes of manga for you, both popular items we've gotten back in stock (Rich Girl's Specialist, Teaching the Virgin Boy and more) as well as several beautiful volumes that are new to the list -- please see the manga pages (especially New Releases and Best Sellers)
  
• J-List customers ask for more anime cards, so we've obliged: see the new cards from Kanon (a wonderful bishojo game that's taking Japan by storm this year) and Gundam War (featuring all Gundam characters and mechs) on the Anime Cards page
  
• Speaking of anime, we've got stock of the new Pokemon Choco Snack, a delicious chocolated maltball snack that comes with one of sixteen chromed cards -- very cool. See the Anime Snacks or the Snack pages for this item
  
• On our Wacky Things from Japan page this evening, please see two very cool items. One is a handy wooden back massager, which allows you to really relax the muscles of your back. Also, for those with "ear cleaning fetish" (people who love having their girlfriends or wives clean their ears for them), we've got a great Japanese-style ear wax pick that has a built-in flashlight, so the person doing the cleaning can see what they're doing
  
• Finally, fresh stock of some items we just couldn't keep in stock: more loose socks, socks glue (to hold up your loose socks), Japanese vocabulary study cards (for studying vocabulary words, use them to learn Japanese), and one of our best sellers, the Hello Kitty printed chopsticks.
  

Please remember that we're looking for J-E translators who are interested in working on exciting projects involving translating of games and manga. If you've got these skills, please drop us a line. Thanks!

Greetings from J-List September 22, 2000

Greetings from J-List September 22, 2000

Greetings again from that wackiest of places, Japan.

The movie Schindler's List was a very touching story. Japan had their own little-known Schindler, a man named Chiune Sugimoto, a Japanese consulate in Estonia who used his special status to grant tens of thousands of travel visas to Jews who were fleeing the coming Nazi terror. Ignoring orders from his home country, he issued visas relentlessly in the months before the Soviets invaded, allowing refugees to travel first to Japan, then onto their final destinations in Canada, the United States and South America. His efforts allowed over 40, 000 people to reach safety.

The Japanese are great innovators, and they've really picked up the DVD ball and are running with it. Now Hitachi (whose slogan in Japan is "Inspire the next") has made the first DVD video camera, a video camera which records onto a DVD-RAM disc. It's being marketed by star pitcher Matsuzaka Daisuke of the Seibu Lions, the baby of Japan's baseball league because he's a good pitcher and he's got such a cute face. You can see this camera at http://dvd.hitachi.co.jp/ (Japanese site).

We have some very nice new items for you this evening, including:

• Several all-new magazines, including two ones that I like a lot, Video Boy and Best Video, which offer great birds-eye views of the entire Japan AV world, and all currently popular AV stars
  For photobook fans, we've got the wonderful first photobook of one of my favorite idols, Tanaka Rena -- on photobook page 1
  
• Also for photobook fans, we have several back-in-stock items, including some really excellent leg fetish books that had sold out before -- see these books on the photobooks (page 1) photobooks (leg fetish) pages
  
• We love Japan's unique hentai manga here at J-List, so we've got more manga for you: on manga (new releases) we've got several excellent new adult manga, and on manga (best-sellers) you can find fresh stock of some of our most popular books, including the dynamite Innocent Age 1-3 sets
  
• Yaoi fans, we've got great new items for you -- see the 12+ new yaoi works posted to the yaoi manga & dojinshi page (but remember we have limited stock of each one)
  
• For bishojo game fans, find more copies of the excellent E-Login (the best-selling bishojo game magazine in Japan) on the magazines (hentai) page, and also more copies of Ohno Tetsuya's "Pussy Cat" hentai artbook
  
• We have fresh stock of some of our most popular adult videos from Soft on Demand, including the very popular Idol Shower "bukkake" theme video series
  
• Also for video fans, we have a dozen or more new items posted to the special order videos (new releases) page -- you can browse these great titles and pre-order the ones you want, and we'll send them to you as soon as they come in
  
• We love those funky reflective Japanese stickers with silly slogans on them. We have a new one that features a picture of a cute car and warns drivers to "drive safely"
  
• There's a new, longer version of the "plus cord" that lets you bridge bulky power supplies so they don't take up too much room on your power strip -- this one is 1.5 meters long (very handy to have these around your computer setup)
  
• For fans of our unique Japanese gum, a cool new item -- Xylets, a delicious sugarless gum bursting with flavor, made with xylident, a new product that fights cavities as you chew. As the package says, Xylets is your teeth friendly, with fresh and juicy flavor.
  
• Finally, autumn is here, which means it's time for a great new lineup of one of our most popular categories, Glico's delicious Pocky snacks! Two new flavors of the excellent "Mousse Pocky" have been added to the Pocky & Pretz page, chocolate and white. They're both delicious, and since they're incredibly popular in Japan this season, we aren't sure if we'll be able to keep them in stock. Check them out!
  

Okay, let's go see the site!

Greetings from J-List September 20, 2000

Hello again from Japan!

On the Japanese TV show Denpa Shonen, singer Kahala Tomomi is still plugging away, trying to break into the American market. Now she's trying to find a band that's looking for a vocalist, but her English is really tripping her up: "I am Japanese singer, American debut please" just isn't good enough for the competitive American music world. Meanwhile, on another segment of the same show, a student who wants to get into Tokyo University, the most prestigious university in Japan, is locked in a room for 24 hours a day with a teacher, where he studies math

As the Japanese economy continues it lackluster performance, certain types of business models are proving wildly successful. One area that has shown solid growth is the used car industry, a complex network of dealers that form national networks, allowing a customer to easily find exactly the car he wants, even if it's located a thousand miles away. One dealer, T-Up, has an interesting twist on this system: they deal only with buying and selling Toyota cars. With a bright green and white sign that's obviously stolen from the 7-Up logo, they've found that by specializing in one category and doing it well, they can build a successful business even during a faltering economy.

For this evening's update, we have some very nice items for you, as usual, including:

• First, we have two great new magazines, the new issues of Penthouse Japan and Penthouse Special, two lovely examples of the excellent Penthouse Japan edition, which feature only lovely Japanese models shot by Japanese photographers
  
• We have several lovely back-in-stock photobooks, more copies of the wonderful "Legend of Love 2000" hardcover photobook
  
• S&M lovers should check out the new issue of Slave Mania, now posted to the photobooks (high-end S&M) page
  
• For fans of elegant leg-oriented manga-style artwork, artist Yagami Hiroki's popular G-Taste photobook is in stock, on the art books (hentai) and photobooks (leg fetish) pages
  
• Speaking of art, we've got a great new shipment of some of our most popular manga in, with a dozen or so new and back-in-stock manga. Look on the manga (bestsellers) and manga (new releases) pages for the newly posted items
  
• There are more in-stock copies of the popular Comic Jumbo and Kairakuten erotic comics, on the magazines (hentai) page
  
• For dojinshi lovers, there are a half dozen excellent one-shot dojinshi newly added -- these items are only available in limited numbers, so look at the new items quickly
  
• We have a very special 120 minute DVD for fans of large breast AV angels -- Ultra Bust Legend, featuring 20 different wonderful AV actresses for you
  
• Also for DVD lovers, more stock of DVD Wow, a full color magazine and 120 minute sampler DVD, featuring wonderful AV performances from some of J-List's most popular actresses
  
• We have more adult videos in stock -- including the silky Nishihara Kyoko, the pure Kawashima Azumi and one of our all-time favorites, the sexy Yoshino Sally
  
• For the anime fan in you, we have limited stock of a cool item -- a "seal collection" (i.e., stickers) of the popular anime and game Sakura Wars
  
• Finally, from our "wacky, wacky things from Japan" corner, we have a handy "hand roller" to massage your neck and back, and a real Japanese wooden abacus -- cool!
  

Remember that hentai game fans can take advantage of J-List's popular "Threepack" special, of any three hentai games for just $90, including shipping to the US or Canada. This allows you to save up to $35 on our great English-language hentai RPG and advanture games. Check them out on the Hentai Games pages now!

Greetings from J-List September 18, 2000

Greetings from Japan, where Pocari Sweat is always fresh and cold.

Well, we're extremely glad to say that Japanese Calendar has begun again at J-List. Japanese Calendar Season is a great time when stores in Japan can order the large-size unique Japanese calendars for sale close to the end of the year. J-List makes these really cool calendars available to you, so you can join in on the fun and take a piece of Japan with you through next year. You can preorder the calendars you want between now and around the end of October, and your calendars will come in, probably around a month after you order. When calendar season ends, it ends -- calendars completely disappear from Japan until the same time next year.

If you haven't seen these calendars before, they're really something special -- most are "A2" size, which translates to 23 x 16 inches approximately, and are basically large posters attached by a spine at the top, seven pages (two months per page, with a cover page). One thing they have in common is the beautiful printing on heavyweight paper, which add color and life to any room.

It's always fun to see how the various singers and idols move around the list, indicating how their popularity has risen or fallen during the past year. Singer and CM queen Hamasaki Ayumi bagged the coveted CL-1 position, replacing Suzuki Ami, Glay, Puffy and Amuro Namie as the #1 popular entity in Japan in past years. The ten-member singing group Morning Musume, idol Fukada Kyoko, the individual former members of Speed, and the incredibly popular busty smiling girl Yuka also made strong showings. Anime calendars that J-List readers might like include Card Captor Sakura, Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon (yes

Incidentally, we apologize for the smallness of the calendar pictures. Unfortunately, all we currently have to work with is a small poster with tiny pictures of the calendars, which we've spent time scanning and polishing as best we can. The calendars are actually large size, beautifully printed works of art, yet the scans on the site (which show the front pages of each calendar) are quite small.

In addition to the full listing of 2001 calendars, we have a bunch of great new items:

• First, tons 'o brand new magazines, including the new Bejean (Kanazawa Bunko, Kawashima Azumi, Kusanagi Jun), the bold Gokuh (very artistic nude performance by Kumano Pu-ko), the delicious new Gal's Dee ("busty revolution"), and the pretty new Suppin
  
• We have a fantastic new photobook in the Tennyo series, by the incredibly talented Masaaki Miyazawa, this time featuring the angelic Aoi Minori -- this book is so good, it's got both me and Tomo stopping work to steal glances at it
  
• Three more copies of Fubuki Akira's dynamite photobook "So Long"
  
• There's a new adult dojinshi on the dojinshi page, featuring great King of Fighters, Viper and Battle Athletes erotic play
  
• There are several new erotic manga on the manga (new releases) page, including a new release in the "Meganekko DX" series by Tsukasa, featuring all hentai stories about girls wearing glasses (the Japanese have great imaginations)
  
• Finally, a very cool video item from SOD, Morishita Kurumi's "Lesbian Love Hell, in which she boldly explores the world of lesbian sex and more. It's 100 minute video that looks to be extremely interesting for fans of Kuru Kuru" (to use Kurumi's nickname). (We have only one in stock currently. If it sells out, remember that you can find it on the SOD Special Order videos page.)
  

Well, thanks for checking out J-List, and please see the new 2001 calendars, now!

Greetings from J-List September 14, 2000

Hello again from Japan, the original home of the salad pretzel.

2000 is shaping up as the "year of the recall" in Japan. Of course the Bridgestone/Firestone scandal in the U.S. is at the forefront of everyone's minds (I have an American friend who works for Bridgestone, one of only a few foreigners in the company, and he's been quite busy with damage control meetings for the past few weeks). Mitsubishi has also gotten itself into trouble, for failing to recall a model of TV set and a car that had manufacturing defects, and covering up the reports of the problems in the first place. Also, major milk manufacturer Yuki-jirushi (Snow Brand) failed to recall improperly prepared milk, which resulted in thousands of people in the Osaka area getting sick.

In the last update I talked about Japanese typhoon season. As I was sending the update, Nagoya was getting pummeled by a huge typhoon, which flooded the entire prefecture and killed seven. Also, the rain shut down the Tokaido bullet train line, which forced 71 trains loaded with people returning home from Tokyo to spend the night inside the trains, unable to leave the train or get food. We have several friends in Nagoya, but fortunately they all managed to come through it without any damage.

For this evening's update, we have some nice items for you, which we've all been hard at work on. They include:

• First and foremost, several new magazines are in, including two popular "liquid" fetish books, Gal's Shower and Pakkun Mecha-Ike, as well as the new Top Video
  
• We have limited stock of other magazine items, including some value-priced back issues of The Best (on the magazine back issues page) and several in-stock issues of the popular E-Login (on the magazines (hentai) page)
  
• We have several nice new photobooks, including Mori Hiroko's elegant hardcover photo work (on photobooks page 1) and a positively wonder "campaign girl" fetish photobook on the leg fetish page
  
• We also have several back-in-stock photobook items, including Enra (lovely Japanese idols in kimono nudes) and the very popular and erotic "Cosplay Cuties" photobook
  
• For our manga fans, we have several new items, including "Picture Diary of Sexual Abandonment, an excellent new manga from Hit Comics, a complete three-volume set of erotic manga, and more
  
• For dojinshi fans, we have great stock of several new titles, including two great erotic Sailor Moon parody dojinshi by Energya
  
• The special order" video (new AV idols) page has been updates with new videos you can special order -- see the excellent titles by Asakura Kaori, bitch of bitches Yanagi Haruka, a bathing suit & sex fetish title with the amusing title "Pheromone Bikinies, and more
  
• For our JPOP fans, we have several new JPOP CD singles posted -- remember our final JPOP sale, where you can buy 2 and get 1 free on any JPOP album or single
  
• We had such success with our two previous Japanese wind chimes that we've got another one -- a deluxe bamboo wind chime, which makes a pleasant bamboo sound as wind blows. We really like finding items like this from Japan for you... Find this on the Wacky Things from Japan page.
  
• J-List carries Japanese congratulations envelopes (shugi-bukuro), which are traditionally used for presenting money to people as congratulations for happy events, but you can use them for anything. We have a new deluxe congratulations envelope on the Wacky Things page, which features a beautiful metal wire wound into the shape of a crane.
  
• Finally, in the you didn't even know you needed it, category, we've got the perfect small pan for making Japanese-style scrambled egg (tamago-yaki) in little squares. Perfect for sushi, putting in your bento-box, or doing anything creative with eggs. When my mother came to Japan, she couldn't buy enough of these for her friends when she went home.
  

Friday is a Japanese holiday, Keiro no Hi, or Respect for the Aged Day, so it'll be quiet around J-List. Today, my son went to visit the members of a nearby elderly home where they danced and sang songs. If you have any elderly people in your lives, be extra nice to them -- they'll appreciate it.

Greetings from J-List September 12, 2000

Autumn has come to Japan, or at least you'd think so by watching the beer advertising. This year's brew of Aki-Aji, Kirin's "autumn only" limited beer, has hit the shelves in my wife's parents liquor shop, as Japan says goodbye to summer and hello to Fall.

Japan is very big on seasons -- humorist Dave Barry observed that Japanese are likely to stop you on the street and tell you that their country has four seasons, unlike America, which is pretty much dead on. However, anyone who thinks Japan has only four seasons hasn't spent much time here. There are really seven: winter, cherry blossom season, spring, rainy season, summer, typhoon season, fall

We've made some minor changes to the J-List site's layout, removing some categories and grouping them with others. Hopefully, navigation will be improved for everyone. As always, we appreciate feedback on any aspects of the site.

For this evening's update, we have some extra-special items for you, including:

• First, we have several excellent new magazines, including the hot new issue of Urecco, the #1 magazine at J-List. It's a wonderful item, with Kanazawa Bunko, Kusanagi Jun, and a host of other lovelies
  
• We have some excellent all-new photobooks, including Fujisaki Saori's refreshing "Natural" high school uniform photobook (on photobooks page 1)
  
• For S&M fans, we have "Lovely Tying, a fabulous S&M photobook featuring wonderful bondage photos of four goddesses of Japan AV: Miura Aika, Nagase Lum, Aso Sanae and Mochida Kaoru -- find this on the photobook or gouka-bon" page
  
• We love Japan's unique leg fetish books, and we know that many of you do, too. We've got a great new item on the leg fetish photobooks page -- it's called Bottom Up (guess what kind of photos it is)
  
• Dojinshi fans will like the new additions to the dojinshi page -- we have stock of not one, not two, but three new hentai dojinshi in the "Kaiten" series, including rare Sailor Moon and Final Fantasy 7 books
  
• For fans of Japan's wonderful bishojo games, we have stock of the current issue of Colorful Pure Girl, the wonderful large-format hentai magazine, for you, on the magazines (hentai) page
  
• Adult manga fans, you'll also find stock of several issues of popular adult manga magazines Comic Jumbo and Kairakuten
  
• Also in the "very cool department" -- a new manga by Harazaki Takuma, creator of Golden Stage and Innocent Age. Find "Let's Believe in Fantasy Love" on the manga pages
  
• For our Japan AV video fans, we've got two great new items by SOD: The Sound of Mucous Membrane, featuring Komuro Ririka-chan in a straight video, and "Takako & Kaho" in a great lesbian offering
  
• Also very cool, for fans of the AV stars of yesteryear, the Kuki Super Compilation Album 3, featuring 120 minutes and 12 lovely AV stars
  
• For DVD fans, a new category -- the DVD & magazine combo featuring 2 hours of wonderful footage of Japan's hottest stars, including Shibuya Marina, Suzuki Manami, Aoi Minori, and more -- on the DVD (Main) page
  
• For anime fans, we've got stock of the current Hobby Japan, and for the kid in all of us, Yochien, a super magazine for kids filled with rare and fun Pokemon, anime and other stickers and activities -- on the Anime (magazines) page
  
• For those females on the list, we have an item highly recommended by my wife -- a handy "lingerie net, a nylon bag with a zipper in which you can wash your delicates" (underwear, stockings) without fear of damage. Find this and other useful items on the newly renamed "Wacky stuff from Japan" page
  
• Finally, an item we've wanted to carry on J-List for some time: authentic Japanese "loose socks!" The trademark of Japan's high school girls for years, these oversized nylon socks are now available from J-List. Find them on the Wacky stuff from Japan page. Don't forget to pick up "socks glue" to keep your socks from falling down!
  

The "About J-List" page has been updated with some interesting new versions of all of us, courtesy of a talented artist friend of Kaori's. We think it came out quite well ^_^ The direct link is http://www.jlist.com/shop/aboutus.html .

Greetings from J-List September 10, 2000

Man, Apple's Airport is really great. Today's update is being brought you from my living room, via my Powerbook and a booster antenna. Kazuki and I are about half way through Zeta Gundam, and we're watching an episode while I finish up tonight's update.

In any language, there are little areas that are especially difficult or challenging. When Japanese people study English, they get hung up on idioms ("it's raining cats and dogs"), and two word verbs and their many nuances (throw up, throw off, throw away, etc.). Also, because it's quite hard to find native English speakers to practice English with, Japanese have trouble getting used to understanding spoken English.

For me, studying Japanese has always been great fun, but there are were difficult areas, to be sure. There's an interesting category of four-syllable words that were quite hard to get down when I was studying Japanese: sokkuri ("it looks exactly the same"), pittari ("it's a perfect fit"), bikkuri ("I'm quite surprised"), and so on -- there are about 50 of these words, all with hard to learn but well-defined meanings. But the most challenging area of Japanese study for non-Chinese, non-Taiwanese, non-Korean students of Japanese is definitely kanji. An extremely complex system of pictures and meanings

For tonight's update, we've got some nice new items, as always, including:

• First, great new magazines, including another new issue of the popular Cho Very Good, for fans of outrageous Japanese cogals
  
• If you like legs, we've got some great items for you, including several new and back-in-stock let fetish books -- including Panstopia, Panst Dream, Leg's Queen, See-Through Fetish, and more
  
• For photobook fans, we've got some wonderful new ones for you, including Girl Friends 2000, a super hardcover book featuring 36 AV idols for you, Yamazaki Akari's erotic "Mellow Fruits, and an interesting bishojo ass" book
  
• We've also got more copies of such popular photobooks as Miyazawa Nude vol. 2, Secret Idol, and Yamada Mariya's "Mariya 2"
  
• We have more copyes of the excellent hentai art books that had been sold out, The Season of L (L no Kisetsu, L standing for "ero" to the Japanese ear) and Cherry Soft, on the hentai art books page
  
• We have some great new videos in stock, including the lovely Aoi Minori's "Fetish Virgin" (gotta love a video with a title like that)
  
• We have a dozen or so *all new* dojinshi posted to the dojinshi page, some really nice ones from last month's Comic Market
  
• JPOP fans are responding to our "final JPOP sale, picking up a lot of JPOP albums and singles with our buy two, get one free." We've sweetened the pot, with 20+ new items on the JPOP page, including limited stock of Amuro Namie, Suzuki Ami, and more
  
• For today's additions to the "wacky things from Japan" category, we've added a wonderful Hello Kitty spoon & fork; a nifty pair of hooks that you attach to the back of your car's seat to hang trash bags, food the the kids, and more; and by request, more of the surprisingly popular "Japanese word cards"
  

Remember that J-List has the only "bizarre Japanese T-shirts" you'll find, with great slogans on them, from "Looking for a Japanese girlfriend" to "I'm a strange foreigner" to the fun favorite, Philosophy of Hentai. Check them out on the T-shirts page!

Greetings from J-List September 9, 2000

Greetings again from Japan!

The idea of a man taking his wife's last name after marriage would be pretty rare in the U.S., but in Japan, it happens quite often. When a woman leaves to live with her new husband (called "going to be a bride" in Japanese), she takes her new husband's last name virtually 100% of the time, but if a man marries a woman and moves into her family's house, he nearly always takes her last name -- my father-in-law did this, for example. If a man moves into his wife's family's house but keeps his own last name, he's called "Masuo-san, after the father (Masuo) in the long-running Japanese anime Sazae-san" (because Masuo held on to his last name). Since I kept my own name, I am technically a "Masuo-san

For this weekend's update, we've got a bunch of killer new products, including:

• We've got several excellent new magazines, including the *last issue* of the excellent Men's Master, from Million Publishing. The issue features some really excellent "sayonara" nude features for you
  
• We've got several more classic back issues of past magazines, including some really excellent premium items (Tohno Natsuko fans take note) on the magazine back-issues page
  
• For photobook fans, we have several excellent new items, including a beautiful all-new photobook of the darling busty idol Yuka (also written Yuuka), the full nude of "Kajiwara Norika, and more
  
• Fans of stockings and pleated skirts will appreciate the Flare Fantasy" photobook, on the photobooks (leg fetish) page
  
• There are several all-new adult wide manga posted on the manga (new releases) page, for fans of Japan's unique manga, and on the manga (best-sellers) page, we have more copies of one of Chattaro's classics, Nami SOS!
  
• Yaoi fans should check out the interesting yaoi anthology mangas, posted to the yaoi page -- they are very cool
  
• Fans of SOD's excellent independent AV style will love the latest release in the Fuckin' On series, this time featuring the silky and stylish Nagase Lum -- see it on the SOD Page 1 or Video Catalog (SOD) pages
  
• As we close out our entire line of Japanese costumes, we've lowered prices on our stock yet again -- please browse our Japanese costumes page
  
• We have some great all-new dojinshi titles on the dojinshi page, including more items we picked up at the past Comiket
  
• There are a few new albums on the JPOP page, which we forgot to post last time, for JPOP fans looking to take advantage of our "final" JPOP sale
  
• On our popular "fun things from Japan" page, we've got more wacky items, including more of the popular wooden signs that have cute messages in Japanese (including all-new items)
  
• Finally, fans of the very popular T-Dog 2000, the robot dog that playfully moves around your room, will love T-Cat 2000, a cute silver cat that does everything T-Dog 2000 can do. A super robot pet for you.
  

The JAST USA homepage has been completely reworked, with an entirely new shopping cart engine and interface, as well as a completely uncensored "free downloads" section. Please see all the excellent titles at http://www.jastusa.com/ !

Well, that's all for now. Have a great weekend, and we'll see you on the web!

Greetings from J-List September 4, 2000

Hello again from Japan, the country where toilets wash and dry your butt for you -- we have one of these in our house, actually.

To Japanese singers, America is the "holy land, and every musician dreams of succeeding there. Dozens have tried and failed -- Matsuda Seiko being the most famous -- but except for Pink Lady, who's single Kiss In The Dark spent three weeks on the top 40 in 1979, no Japanese singers have ever made much of a splash. Denpa Shonen, the Japanese TV show that followed comedians as they hitchhiked from the bottom of Africa to the top of Europe, is trying to change that: they want to help to make Kahala Tomomi a star in America. The former girlfriend of master Japanese music producer Tetsuya Komuro (who gave us such great lyrics as get chance and luck" and "Body feels EXIT") and best-selling singer in her own right, she fell on hard times emotionally and professionally when she broke up with TK. Her new plan: to debut in America. Each week on Denpa Shonen, the camera follows her around as she goes to record companies in Los Angeles, asking in terrible English if she could please talk to a producer about a recording contract. She sings her own songs at Japanese karaoke boxes to make demo tapes, or outside record companies with a portable karaoke set. If you're in the Los Angeles area, keep your eyes out for her and tell her we said "ganbatte kudasai" (do your best).

There was an interesting drama on TV last week, which got one of the highest viewer ratings of any drama in history -- 29%. Called "Tale of One Hundred Years, it told the story of three generations of women, in the Taisho (prewar), World War II and modern eras. Each character was played by popular Japanese actress Matsushima Nanako (see a profile of her at http://www.topidols.com/nanako_matsushima/profile.htm), so that the grandmother, mother and daughter were all portrayed by the same woman. The drama played close attention to how the lives of Japanese women have changed in the last century -- in the Taisho era, for example, it was illegal for a woman to cheat on her husband, but not illegal of the husband did the same thing. The third part of the drama was filmed almost entirely in the U.S.

We've got loads of cool new items for you this evening, including:

• First, some killer back from the dead" photobooks, including two copies of Ikegami Misa's wonderful 3rd photobook, Yoshioka Chihiro's dynamite nude photobook, Picasso's great "Costume Viper, and more
  
• Also for photobook fans, the lovely hardcover photobook of idol Kawamura Risa, age 15
  
• For magazine fans, we've got even more popular classic backissues of Urecco from as far back as 1993 -- cool
  
• We have some supremely lovely videos in stock, including four dynamite classic AV videos by the dynamite Fubuki Akira and the sizzling Yoshino Sally -- see them on the Videos (Classics) page
  
• For DVD fans, we have not one, but TWO super Miura Aika erotic DVDs in stock: Aika Loves You 3, a super collection of some of her best previous AV performances, and an all *new* production, the 120 minute Destruction by Lewdness"!
  
• Manga fans will love the new offerings we've posted, with some absolutely fantastic new erotic manga that are destined to become popular at J-List
  
• For JPOP fans, we have some great new singles and albums, including some hard to find items -- and check below for a great announcement about our JPOP CDs
  
• We've got more "wacky items from Japan" for you -- plug extenders which fold neatly out of the way (in brilliant iMac "skeleton" colors!)
  
• By popular demand, we have 10 more units of the popular "ashi-fumi board, which presses the pressure points on the bottom of your feet for a wonderful massage feeling
  
• How do Japanese high school girls keep those outrageously tall socks from falling down? With socks glue, of course! Now you can buy your very own socks glue, on the Fun Stuff page
  
• Finally, dumb cornball joke broken finger" and "nail through the finger" gags to amuse your friends.
  

Announcing J-List's *FINAL* JPOP sale! We want to say thanks to J-List's loyal JPOP fans for your continued interest in our selection of bargain-priced JPOP CDs. JPOP CDs typically cost $12 and up for singles, $30 and up for albums, so our low-priced selection has always been popular. We're going to treat you to one, massive final sale on our JPOP singles and albums. For the rest of the month, buy any TWO Japanese music CDs and get the third free. Help us clear out all our stock of already ridiculously cheap JPOP CDs!

Greetings from J-List September 1, 2000

Greetings again from Japan, the original home of the Bongo Friendy, a fairly cool camp-car from Mazda.

Translating a word from one writing system to another is known as transliterating. Most of the the time it's an easy thing to transliterate Japanese into English, as Japanese is made up of easy syllables that consist of either a vowel (a i u e o) or a consonant and a vowel (ka ki ku ke ko, ra ri ru re ro, etc.). There are three syllables that don't fit neatly into this system though -- shi, chi, and tsu -- which, because of the way they're pronounced, can't be written with the convenient consonant+vowel system (i.e., si, ti and tu). As always

For this weekend's update, we have an especially large selection of cool stuff for you, including:

• First, we have super new magazines, including a wonderful new Gal's Dee (gotta love Kajiwara Mayu as the busty young wife) and Do-Up!, a super new all-amateur magazine
  
• The new issue of Wonderful is in, and it's a hot one, featuring sixteen different lovely AV stars, including Kusanagi Jun and Hoshino Marin
  
• We have some killer one-shot magazines from 1995, on the magazine "backissues" page -- including some extremely cool premium issues which have to be seen to be believed
  
• We have a great volley of new photobooks, including two of the *extremely* beautiful Tennyo series by master photographer Miyazawa Masaaki -- featuring lovely angels Morishita Kurumi and Hagiwara Mai
  
• As usual, we've got additional copies of very special photobooks that have sold out in the past -- including the lovely Genji Shana's "Mezame" photobook
  
• We have some groovy new videos posted on the SOD page ((36 Naked Girls in Private Interview") and on the Japan AV Today page (several great new in-stock titles)
  
• A real value item is the DVD & Video CD Soft Catalog, which provide 2 full VCDs of great sampler footage, nearly 2 hours, along with a full color magazine. See the new item on the MPEG CD ROMs page (in the VCD and DVD master category)
  
• For fans of Takara's "anti-Barbie, the demure and cute fashion doll Licca-chan, we have a selection of circa-1970 Licca-chan stationary items that are very cool, on the Anime (fashion dolls) page
  
• In an entire new product category for J-List, we now sell everything you need to take up classic Japanese calligraphy (Shodo) -- brushes, ink, stone ink dish, paper, and more. Find these cool items on the Fun Stuff" page
  
• We have more stock of some of our most popular items, including some great wacky headbands, new stock of the "Plus Cord" Magic Extender, fresh stock of the surprisingly popular Buddhist beads, and new Japanese congratulations envelopes
  
• For the ladies, something only Japan could invent -- Japanese facial oil wipes, which soak excess oil from your face and leave you feeling clean and refreshed
  
• If you're part of the Yamato generation, we have more stock of the die-cast Yamato completed models on the Anime Toys page
  
• Finally, something for the hobby fan in everyone -- Uchusen, the quarterly magazine of hobby, Godzilla and Ultraman, and the Garage Kit Catalog 2000, a super color book filled with pictures of the current leading edge in these cool PVC models.
  

Can you translate from Japanese to English? We're looking for J-E translators who can help us bring out the next generation of excellent bishojo games. If you're interested, please drop us a line -- thanks!